Rothenberg: Grimes, Nunn, Tennant Run Different Campaigns for Senate

Rothenberg: Grimes, Nunn, Tennant Run Different Campaigns for Senate

Nunn has a terrific name in the Peach State and in Washington, D.C. Her father was (and is) a highly regarded pragmatic Democrat, and her association with the Bush family through her connection with the Points of Light Foundation is an asset.

To have a serious chance of victory, Nunn probably needs to run against a Republican who would have problems within his or her own party. Rep. Paul Broun, a libertarian-leaning Republican member of Congress with a penchant for saying stupid things — for example, that evolution, embryology and the Big Bang theory are “lies straight from the pit of hell” — obviously would give Nunn her best chance for success, but he may not be the only Republican unable to hold the seat in the fall.

Interestingly, while the Club for Growth has endorsed four Senate candidates this cycle (in Alaska, Arkansas, Mississippi and Nebraska), it has not endorsed Broun’s Senate bid, even though the Georgia congressman has a 99 percent lifetime rating from the group. The conservative group knows his tendency for saying the outlandish could come back to haunt him — and the club.

So, while I continue to rate Grimes and Nunn as underdogs in the Kentucky and Georgia Senate races, I certainly see paths, albeit narrow ones, for victory for the two Democratic women in those races.